Thai police on Wednesday released a detailed sketch of the suspected Bangkok bomber seen on security footage leaving a backpack at a shrine moments before a bomb detonated, killing 20 people and wounding scores more.
The unidentified man, who has a light complexion, some stubble, black hair and glasses, "might be foreign or Thai", according to national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri.
A sketch of the Bangkok bombing suspect has been released by Thai police Photo: Thai Police
Associated Press report that Thai police say they have called two or three people, mostly foreigners, for questioning as they search for the main suspect seen in security video carrying a backpack at the Erawan shrine shortly before the Monday evening explosion that killed 20 people.
Police spokesman Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri says an arrest warrant for the unidentified suspect would be issued soon. He says "hopefully, he is still in Thailand."
08.57
As the police intensified their search for the accomplices, they also offered a reward of 1 million baht (£18,000) for information leading to the bomber.
"We are also looking for other suspects in connection with the blast," said police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri. "These types of attacks are not usually planned by one person alone."
08.32
The Erawan shrine has reopened.
Among the tributes left at the Hindu shrine on Wednesday morning were bundles of clothes and money to honour a Malaysian family that suffered a terrible price in the attack, writes Philip Sherwell in Bangkok.
Of seven close relatives who visited the shrine on Monday evening, four were killed and one is missing, feared to be among the dead whose bodies were too badly damaged to be quickly identified.
On Wednesday morning, Thais and Asian visitors paid their respects in what could have seemed like a regular scene at the shrine to Brahma, a Hindu deity also worshipped by Buddhists.
08.16
Thai investigators have not been able to establish the nationality of the man suspected of bombing a Bangkok shrine, or whether he is still in the country, police chief Somyot Poompanmoung has said.
I don't suspect one person, I suspect many people. I am confident that there are Thais involved but I am not saying it is just Thais or that there are foreigners."
He said it was not clear yet if a small second explosion in Bangkok, on Tuesday, was linked to the first.
"The wrong-doer could not have been alone... we believe there must be people helping hiim, Thai people. It's a network," he said.
07.43
Hello and welcome to the Telegraph's live coverage of the aftermath of Monday's explosion near the Hindu Erawan shrine in Bangkok.
Some worrying news has been reported by our Asia Editor, Philip Sherwell in Bangkok:
Thailand’s police chief has said that the Bangkok shrine bomber who planted the home-made device that killed at least 20 people“didn’t do it alone” and was part of a “network”.
As the police manhunt continued for the young man who was seen in security camera footage apparently leaving the lethal pipe bomb, the holy site that he targetted for the slaughter re-opened.
With prayers chanted by Buddhist monks and floral garlands and incense sticks laid by devotees, the gates to the open-air Erawan shrine were open again barely 36 hours after the horrors witnessed there at rush hour on Monday evening.
“He didn't do it alone for sure,” Somyot Poompanmoung, the national police chief said when asked about the man pictured in the CCTV footage leaving a back-pack at the location where the bomb exploded. “It's a network."
What happened yesterday?
A British-Hong Kong victim was named as Vivian Chan Wing-Yan was born in Hong Kong and attended Harrow International School before she began studying law in London.
Miss Chan had been on holiday in Thailand with her friend Arcadia Pang Wan-Chee, 24, when the bomb exploded, killing them both.
The dramatic events for Thailand continued yesterday when another pipe bomb exploded in a river near a central railway station in the capital. No one was killed or injured, fortunately.
What has happened in the last two days?
On Monday evening (afternoon in the UK as Thailand is six hours ahead), an explosion ripped through the heart of Bangkok, killing at least 20 people and left more than 120 injured.
Some media sources in Thailand say the death could be as high as 28. The scene of carnage was depicted vividly online with body parts and police struggling to immediately identify some victims as they sought to confirm what body part belonged to who.
The device, a pipe bomb, went off and it is not currently known who was responsible or what group may have been responsible for the attack.
Yesterday, CCTV footage was released showing a suspected individual with a backpack later removing it at the blast site. You can watch the video above.
No comments:
Post a Comment